As a follow up to a recent MediaPost emailing in which Masha Geller, in a response to a recent study concluding that branding comes in second to direct response, suggested that advertisers shouldn't ignore the Web's branding potential, considerable data show that most marketers do feel branding is important.

Recently reported in USAToday, consumer sentiment rose more sharply than expected in early May, as Americans looked ahead to better economic times, market sources said. A University of Michigan survey component index on consumers' current view on the economy fell to 94.1 in early May from April's 96.4, but the index of consumers' future expectations jumped sharply to 92.7 from April's 79.3, the sources reported.

Jim Hopkins, writing in USA TODAY, says a study by the Center for Women's Business Research shows that the number of companies owned 50% or more by women last year jumped 11% from 1997, to 10.1 million, nearly twice the growth rate of all companies. About one of every 10 U.S. adults is a business owner, the center says. Though it did not calculate a separate rate for men, "that figure likely is higher than the rate for women," executive director Sharon Hadary says.

"Nearly 80 percent of adults are making a conscious decision each week to pick up a newspaper - that kind of reach is hard to beat," said NAA President and CEO John Sturm. "Newspapers don't happen to be 'on' when you're in the room. If you're reading a newspaper, you're engaged in it - and eight in 10 people choose to be engaged each week."

With nearly 10 million active users in March 2003, the U.S. university Internet audience is both sizable and influential. comScore Media Metrix, through a panel of 35,000 Internet users, finds that the university audience skews toward communication and entertainment sites. A recent report concludes that to effectively reach this audience it is essential for marketers to understand the distinct consumer preferences and usage patterns of university Internet users.

James T. Madore, Staff Writer for Newsday.com, reports that officials said The New York Sun is promising to deliver a minimum number of readers or provide free ads. The move, called a "rate base guarantee," is standard practice in the magazine industry but unheard of in daily newspapers, analysts said. It comes as the Sun's circulation is growing, thanks in part to cutting the newsstand price, but its advertising remains minuscule.

The Ipsos National CASH Index, Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household, after eight weeks of improving consumer attitudes, dropped 2.2 points and now stands at 86.6. The current dip notwithstanding, the National CASH Index is up more than 25 points since early March, 2003, when the CASH Index was at its lowest point since the Index was inaugurated in January, 2002.

In a special BizNewsletter from MarketingSherpa, Jean Van Ryzin, editor of Selling to Seniors says that over 90% of US boomers use email, and studies show they love it. "But," she says, "they're generally considered to be more vocal and more demanding consumers, who will not be content with standard offers that may have worked with older generations of the past."

LAUNCH, the music destination on Yahoo! ranked as the number one Internet Broadcast Network with 3,040,830 hours of Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) for the week of April 14, according to Arbitron's Internet Broadcast Ratings. Live365 was ranked the number two Internet Broadcast Network with 2,847,013 hours of TTSL, the sum total of hours tuned by listeners to a given station or network. Chaincast/StreamAudio was ranked number three with 1,474,969 hours of TTSL.